My journey through the Sinnoh region
by Gamzoodle
Summary: There are a number of things that aren't taught to you in trainer school, such as the more gruesome side of evolution, or how your pokemon aren't always enough to protect you from rogue trainers and or pokemon. I had to learn these things the hard way. But that never bothered me, what did is how humans saw pokemon. I sought to change it and I did... for better or worse.
1. Chapter 1

I am Zan, a 15 year old Sinnoan. I may not be much different from most of the kids in the world in the aspect that I want to be a trainer who becomes the champion of my region.

However, i'm different because I have a true love and passion for pokemon. All this time I've been forced to endure the 9 long years of pokemon trainer school; learning and memorizing type weaknesses, learning points of which certain pokemon are more vulnerable, knowing breeding patterns and how to recognize any pokemon's nest at a moments notice.

The only reason I have continued to put up with all this nonsense is because I want to become a word-widely known figure.

One who changes the world's opinions of pokemon!

I hoped no, I _**knew **_I was meant to change the world for the better.

Oh, I should probably explain. In my time we humans have a good relationship with pokemon and somewhat of an understanding of the amazing creatures' myths and history.

But do not be fooled, most humans only see pokemon as tools for battle and power, few of us seem to understand that pokemon are our friends, our family even!

That's what I seek to change, I want everyone to see how amazing it is to have a pokemon be a part of your life, as more than a tool of destruction. I knew first hand that befriending a pokemon was the best and most wonderful feeling one could have, quite possibly rivaling the feeling parents get when they borne their first child! I knew because my family always had a pokemon living in our house with us, his name was Aqua and he was an old feraligatr that had lived with us since as long as i can remember.

Little did I know that my journey would never be what I imagined though, of course there was the stuff that was always shown on TV and in books, you know laughing and playing with your pokemon as you traveled through the region collecting badges. But, beyond that there are absolutely horrible things... Death, disease, destruction, sadness, anger, fear... the kinds of things they never taught you about in trainer school.

Allow me to tell you my story of how I experienced the world for what it truly was and changed it, be it for better or worse.

* * *

**Disclaimer: **Pokemon is a registered trademark of Satoshi Tajirir, Gamefreak, the Pokemon Company, Nintendo, etc. All registered characters, themes and ideas are used without permission in a fan-created fiction. The following has been done without profit for purely entertainment purposes. All original concepts, characters, themes, and ideas are copyrighted property of the author and are not to be used without consent.

Quite a few ideas an concepts have been consensually borrowed from an author by the name of "Crukix" and are not in any way my creation.


	2. Chapter 2

I sit in class, bouncing my leg at slowly increasing speeds while I count the minutes until we're out for the day.

_Just 5 more minutes!_

In the front of the room the teacher, an old man with white hair and mutton chops that all come to meet in an equally white mustache on his face drones on about "contradictory typed pokemon".

He is known as Prof. Rowan, and is a highly regarded pokemon scientist of the sinnoh region.

Today in his pokemon type class he was discussing the pokemon larvesta and it's contradictory types, meaning it could be super effective on itself. I, myself had no interest as I have already done extensive research on it.

Only because of their unique typing, larvesta and lucario are both so interesting.

I zoned out thinking about these pokemon and was only brought back to reality by prof. Rowan yelling my name, "Perhaps Zan would like to speak on the subject since he feels no need to pay attention during my lessons?" he said with a tinge of anger in his voice.

"Well, I do already know most anything and everything about larvesta." I hissed at the old man.

"Okay," he said as a sly grin crept across his wrinkly face, "tell me the name of larvesta's evolution then, mr. expert."

_ Damn it!_ He knows my only problem is my shotty memory of pokemon names.

I quickly raked my mind for a name that matched the giant moth of flame that was larvesta's final form. I decided on the most bug sounding name that came to mind, "M-moth...mothim?" i said, the insecurity practically leaking from every syllable of the words i spoke.

" Mothim, mr. Eriksen? One of the branched evolutions of burmy?" The class erupted into laughter as he poked fun of me.

Damn him! He knew my only weakness was my faulty memory of pokemon names, and he exploited that to make a fool of me in front of the entire class!

As the laughter died down the bell rang and the students immediately jumped out of their seats and raced from the room, leaving my fuming self and a smirking old man.

"You know I was only-" he began to say before I interrupted him, "Save it! You embarrassed me in font of the whole class! You know, I figured I should stick around to see if there was anything i could further learn but so far you have only droned on about things I, myself had already went out and learned! So what i'm going to do is get my trainer license from Prof. Michael over in the south wing! Because guess what, old man?!" I hissed at him as he simply gained a puzzled look on his face.

"If you ace his Pokemon I.D. test he grants you early graduation! And even with my bad memory I still aced that thing!" I spat angrily at the man. A surprised look appeared on his face that was soon replaced by a nod of approval.

He opened his mouth to speak but I interrupted him again, " That makes this goodbye, you old bat. May you find another student to torture in front of the whole class." I hissed, feeling victorious.

He chuckled and opened a drawer on his desk and started searching around in it as if I weren't even there.

_Is he seriously going to ignore me now?!_

_I don't care, i'm out. _I stormed out of the classroom.

I thought I heard him start to say something but I figured it would have only served to further anger me.

Upon my leave Prof. Michael has happened to walk by.

Prof. Michael was a big burly man with a huge beard that spread across his whole face and lead up the sides of his head into his hair, which was an afro.

"Hey!" I shouted after him. He turned around with a puzzled look until he saw me and a grin spread across his face. "What do ya need, Eriksen?" he asked in a way that really brought out his Kantonese accent.

"I was wondering if I could cash in on my early graduation?" I asked. His grin somehow managed to spread even further as he said "Of course, just follow me to my office!"

We walked to his office across the school making small talk along the way until we arrived.

"Okay, please enter my office and we can get started!" he said enthusiastically.

"Get started? This wont take long, will it?" I asked.

"Well, if you want a ceremony and celebration I've got to plan ahead a bit." He said, with a tone that had a tinge of _well duh_ to it.

"No, I don't need all that." I said. "I just want my license."

He shot me a look of disappointment, as he loved to plan parties and celebrations. "Oh, alright then. Step over there in front of the large black box" He motioned to a box that was about 2 feel tall and had a small glass lens on the front and an array of levers and buttons around the back.

He walked behind it and pulled a lever, causing the lens cap to pop off and focus on me. "Alright! Smile pretty, now!" he said in a joking tone that I couldn't help but smile at.

My picture came out perfectly portraying me for who I was; A goofy teenager with piercing emerald green eyes, jet black hair that began to creep down to my eyebrows and fairly tan skin. In it I was wearing my favorite black hoodie with white strings, and my neon green glasses.

Prof. Michael laughed a hearty, booming laugh and patted me on the shoulder as he presented me with my new trainers license. I thanked him and happily strutted out of the school building.

I took in a breath of fresh air before reaching into the pack slung around my shoulder and pulled out a small, blue sphere shaped capsule and pressed the button on the middle of it.

A sky blue bike appeared in front of me in a flash and I replaced the capsule in my pack.

I hopped on and quickly rode to the pokemart to pick up a number of pokeballs and various pokemon medication. I pulled out a few capsules and converted them all into a shining white energy that was then absorbed within the capsules.

The mart worker just stared in awe, jaw dropped.

"What? Never seen Item capsules before? They are essentially pokeballs for items."

"Oh man, I need to get some of those! All I have is this ratty old pack." he gestured to a ripped and faded red pack lying on the floor behind the counter.

I agreed, we shared a laugh and I made my way to my house from the store. Upon arrival I was greeted by my parents standing on the front porch, tears in their eyes already having heard the news. Before I could question what they were thinking they both sprinted at me and enraptured me in a hug that nearly squeezed the life out of me.

"Our little boy is leaving to become a full fledged pokemon trainer!" My mom managed to say, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face.

"Now have you got sufficient funds?" My father asked, wiping away a few tears. "Of course!" I replied, my voice also slightly breaking.

"Good man. Now remember, son. Your mother and I love you very much, so if you forget to call every once in a while we will go crazy and hunt you down." He said with his large fatherly smile.

"Oh, gee! An ex gym leader and an optometrist on the hunt for little old me?" I joked at them. "Being an optometrist has only improved my eyesight! The easier to hunt you down with!" my mother said.

We all shared in a laugh that was cut short as we heard a car screech to a halt on the street before us. We all directed our attention towards it, it was a small red car with it's top down.

And sitting in the front seat with a smug grin on his face was _**him.**_

"What the hell are you doing here!?" I shouted at him.

He smirked and told me "You rushed out before I could give you these!" He said with a pleased laugh as he held up a small metallic box that was small enough to be held with one hand.

He tossed the small box at me and I could hear a metallic jingling coming from within it as I caught it.

"So what is it then, Professor?" My father asked.

I opened it up and began fiddling with it before Rowan could answer.

They were strange, grey, and cubical. Upon inspection I saw a red circular piece of glass and on the other side was a small opening.

I looked up and listened in as he explained the devices to my parents.

"...that when attached to a pokemon it can translate it's speech to english." is all I could catch.

"So how do I attach it, then?" I asked.

"Ahh, you weren't paying attention as I spoke, Mr Eriksen. Well had you been, you would know that when you click the red button on the device it dispenses a small spike on the other side and you use that to attach it to the pokemon in question." He explained in a  
matter of fact manner.

I scoffed and said "You expect me stab a pokemon in order to understand it? Hah! That's crueler than you, Rowan!"

"To a pokemon it feels the same as when you get a shot." he returned in the same irritated tone that I had used.

"Son, you shouldn't be sassing a Professor, ya know." My father said to me with an irritated look on his face.

I scoffed at him too.

Professor Rowan just laughed as he said goodbye and drove off. My parents waved after him and so did I.

_Arrivaderci, Rowan. _I thought triumphantly.

My parents looked back to me and hugged me once more.

"Do not forget that feature on your bike! It will be incredibly important on your journey!" My mom mentioned.

At her words I reached down and fondled with a small control panel on the side of my bike. "I would never! This thing is too awesome to be forgotten!"

The panel had allowed me to change various things about the bike, allowing me to traverse whatever needed to be. Be it inflating the tired and expanding them so that I could ride across water, or even protruding spikes from the tires to allow me to ride in more rough terrains.

I got on my bike and waved my parents goodbye, them shouting various pieces of advice that I already knew.

Except one, and it was to follow the path south of town to a secret garden of sorts.

Apparently it was the area that Profs would use to raise starters for trainers and there would be loads of first stage pokemon there that would suit me as a starter pokemon.

I shouted many thanks as I did what I was told.

* * *

It was about a five minute ride to the opening of the path, surprisingly farther than I had first guessed.

I hopped off my bike and returned it to its capsule and put it into my pack. I started following and got onto the path, a loud THUD caused me start running to investigate whatever had caused it. The path led to a surprisingly large space closed off from the outside by thick forest on all sides of it. It formed a perfect enclosure for baby pokemon to play, I also noticed there were was a large playground and a swingset for the babies to play on.

Really it was unbeleivably adorable to see all these little pokemon playing and running about

After staring and being put in a trance by the cute pokemon I had managed to discover the cause of the loud thud! It was a few pokemon that had been rough housing in a small tree and managed to knock it down.

I noticed a group of pokemon watching intently as the tree suddenly burst into flames, causing me to jump. Behind the small patch of flames I noticed a small black insect with white fur covering it's face and red horns protruding out from all over its head.

I recognized it to be a larvesta. I would of captured it, had it not scuttled off as soon as its blue eyes made contact with my emerald ones.

I sighed and looked around at the bountiful amount of small pokemon playing in trees and chasing each other around, trying to decide whether or not to take multiple, and which ones even to take!

There were just so many! From the little orange lizards known as charmander to the energetic little totodiles that ran around biting various things.

I even noticed some pidove, zigzagoon, and a few other pokemon I couldn't identify at the moment

In my observations a small group of pokemon approached me, the group consisting of a squirtle, a fennekin, and a scatterbug. All of which were lead by a particularly charismatic tailow.

The squirtle tugged my pantleg and pointed to the swingset.

_Aww they want me to play with them!_

"Okay!" I said as I followed the turtle and its group to the swingset.

The turtle hopped up onto a swing and the scatterbug followed his action. The scatterbug began swinging itself using small propulsions of silvery powder and it's own momentum.

The squirtle frowned at it and looked to me with pleading eyes that seemed to say _please push me. _

I absolutely melted at it's little scene and proceeded to push it.

It cried out in joy as it swung higher and higher up,daring to almost flip over the swing set.

Then it decided to try and jump off into the pond a few feet in front of the swing set.

It landed about a foot in front of the pond and cried out in pain, I ran over to it to try and help but its group of friends was already there and growling at me, assuming i'd done it.

I backed away, but stayed close enough to see what was going on, I was able to deduce the squirtle as a male and it had landed on its arm the wrong way.

The the tailow had gotten the attention of a passing chikorita and was instructing it to use some sort of healing powder on the injured squirtle.

Once the squirtle was fully healed its group had turned its attention to me and were going to strike me down where I was if not for squirtles cries against it.

They turned back towards the little turtle and had a conversation through a series of growls and grunts.

The little pokemon all looked at peace once more and all scuttled off back to their various methods of playing.

Well, all but the squirtle at least. He came up to me and with a quick jump he was on my shoulders.

I didn't even know a squirtle could jump that high!

Suddenly I felt my backpack increase in weight.

"Hey! You get out of there!" I said as I removed the creature from my pack.

He had an item capsule in his mouth.

The one with my pokeballs in it.

_Does it want to join me?_

I took the capsule from the turtles mouth as pressed the button, causing quite a few pokeballs to fall around me.

Ugh, they really should get a neater approach to these things.

I picked them all up and one by one returned the empty pokeballs to the capsule.

I kept one out, and held it up to the squirtle.

"Do you want to join me?" I asked him, pointing to the pokeball.

He nodded and headbutted the pokeball, turning into red energy and being absorbed by the pokeball. The red and white sphere shook in my hand.

_Once._

_Twice._

_Thrice._

_Click!_

I now had my first partner on my journey!

* * *

Okay, so how about that? I am new to writing but have always had an interest in it, so i hope this story goes well from here, haha! But anyway, hope you enjoy it and will continue to! **Gamzoodle out!**


	3. Chapter 3

"So do you have a name?" I asked the squirtle stood before me.

He gave a small nod, grabbed my hand, and tried to direct me somewhere.

I decided to follow his commands and let him lead me. He brought me over to a small tent that was made of leaves and sticks.

Inside was an abra with it's hands curled into "ok" symbols at its sides as it floated a few inches off the ground.

Upon entrance the abra turned it's head towards us.

Suddenly I had a small headache as I heard a small female voice in my head. [_Hello.] _

"Uh, hi?" I said outloud, confused of what had just happened.

[_I'm communicating with you telepathically.] _The voice spoke again.

I looked down at the abra. "You? Are you the one telepathically speaking with me?"

She shook her head and flashed a small smile.

_Wow! I knew psychics could do this, but I've never experienced it for myself!_

[_The squirtle has acquired the title of 'Thomas' and would prefer to be addressed as such._]

"Oh okay! Thanks!" I said to the abra as I looked down at the squirtle.

"Thomas, huh?" I asked in confirmation.

He nodded and began to lead me out of the tent. I thanked the abra and left. Tom was leading me to a small white shack looking building.

Inside there was a number of pictures of various pokemon all over the walls displaying scenes of pokemon and young looking trainers happily standing beside each other. There were a few chairs aligned along the walls and a small counter at the back.

On the counter was a notepad that seemed to be stuck in place and it had a pen on a chain attached to it.

In the notepad there was a bunch of pokemon names scribbled on it with checkboxes next to them, some were empty others were filled with a check. I figured it was a census for the pokemon of sorts. Take one, check off its name to show it was removed from the enclosure.

"Do I check off one of the boxes by squirtle?" I asked Tom.

He nodded and I checked one of the boxes at random as there were four underneath the word Squirtle.

"So does that mean there are other squirtles around here?" I asked pointing to the unchecked boxes.

He scoffed and shrugged his shoulders.

"What, don't you like the other squirtle?"

He glared up at me and turned the other way with his arms crossed.

_That would be a no._

I took one last glance around the tiny building and left, Tom on my shoulder.

Outside it was beginning to grow dark, and a lot of the pokemon had disappeared to various places, though some others were still playing or scurrying off to their little homes within the enclosure.

I figured Tom might have his own little home and asked him if there was anything he needed from it.

He pointed towards the pond in front of the swingset and made a downward spiral motion with his hand.

"You live a the bottom of the pond?" I asked.

He nodded and chuckled. He then waved both hands as if to say there wasn't anything he needed.

"Alright! You ready to start our adventure?" I asked excitement once again coursing through me.

He shook his head and let out a small yawn.

_Oh...right. It's night._

I let returned him to his pokeball and rode home. I explained to my parents that we'd be staying just for the night before we head out the next morning.

They were happy to comply and let Tom sleep with Aqua, our feraligatr, in the bathtub that night. You know it really is a strange sight to see a huge blue aligator and a small blue turtle happily asleep in your bathtub.

But it is also quite adorable when Tom begins blowing bubbles with his snores and begins to cover both pokemon in a mountain of the things.

It felt good to sleep in my bed and I realized I would miss it. But that's just a small sacrifice that i'm willing to make in exchange for my new life!

I woke up to a face-full of bubbles as Tom decided it would be funny to try and give me a bubble beard while I slept. I looked in the mirror and laughed at the sight of myself with my newly acquired facial hair.

I swiped away the bubbles and got into the shower.

_Oh, another thing i'd miss._

Tom hopped in with me, which was kind of weird. I mean considering he is the equivalent of a young child.

But he was my partner nonetheless and I knew i'd have to deal with it, that and he was good for helping me wash my back.

I stepped out of the shower and grabbed a two towels off the rack, one for me and one for Tom. I threw him his as I began drying myself down.

He mimicked my every move in order to dry off as well as I did, even down to when I violently shook the towel throughout my hair.

And let me tell you, seeing a squirtle vigorously rub a towel around it's head is the funniest thing I can imagine!

After I got dressed me and Tom went downstairs to find a breakfast laid out on the kitchen table with a note saying

_"We went out for a morning training session for Aqua. If we aren't back before you leave just know that we love you! And always be safe on your travels!"_

I couldn't help but smile at the note before digging into the amazing breakfast before me.

Tom did as well, surprising me when he ate the sausage and bacon.

_I thought squirtles were herbivores?_ I scoffed to myself. So_ much for that pokemon's diet class, huh?_

We finished up and I left the dishes in the sink before we raced out of the house.

"Finally! I've got my pokemon and license! Now I can start my adventure!" I shouted out loud with Tom happily bouncing around me.

We began walking north west towards lake verity, as I was hoping to go and catch a new pokemon and train Tom a bit.

We arrived at the scene of lake verity where the sun was shining and the water was a cyan shade of blue. You could see many different kinds of water pokemon swimming around. I spotted a finneon and a school of remoraid.

Tom looked at me with an excited look on his face.

"You want to go play, don't you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

He rapidly nodded his head like an excited little child. Then he pointed at me and made a motion with his arms that looked as if he were diving and looked at me with a puzzled expression.

"Do...uh..do you want to go diving?" I asked, not sure what he was trying to signify.

I sat for a moment and let Tom act out the scene further, trying to decipher it.

_Wait! _

_The translators that Rowan gave me! _

I told Tom to wait a moment and reached into my pack for the little metal box. When I retrieved it I pulled out one of the six chips and pressed the red button, and sure enough a small needle emerged from the opening.

I looked at my little squirtle with a worried expression. "Hey, now this might hurt just a little, but it will let you be able to communicate with me easier!" I told it while holding up the chip for him to see.

He cocked his head sideways at the small grey cube, then took it in his hand and injected it into his upper left arm leaving a small trickle of blood from the puncture. He winced a bit then looked up at me. He opened his mouth to speak but was silenced by a small mechanical voice.

"_DNA sample retrieved. Please remove the chip from the body of the pokemon and replace it into the cartridge."_

I was confused, "So how does this work then?" I asked aloud, staring intently at the small chip in my hand.

Tom pointed to a white little sticker on the back of the box- or cartridge rather. It had directions and an explanation of the small chips.

It turns out that the spike holds a small amount of the pokemons blood and it translates the words of whatever the pokemon whose DNA it has. "Fascinating!" I said, impressed by the technology.

"Alright, Tom try to say something." I told the squirtle.

"M-master?" said a childish sounding voice with just a hint of rasp to it. He looked up at me with a confused look on his face.

"Whoah! They work!" I shouted excitedly.

He began to chuckle and clap his hands together and said " I want you to swim with me!"

"Ohh, that's what you were trying to say! Alright then, let me get my swim trunks and I'll come swim with you!" I said to him, watching his face light up.

I rustled around in my pack for the capsule that held my spare clothes in it, when I noticed my medical capsule and thought back to his little cut from the translator. I grabbed both my clothes capsule and the medicinal capsules and pressed their buttons without thinking.

Suddenly I was covered in a pile of potions, ban-aids, and various articles of clothing.

_Ugh, how could I forget. These things are the opposite of neat._

I heard Tom laugh at me from beside me. "Laugh it up" I said as i quickly picked up my clothes and medical things, save for a band aid and my swim trunks.

"Here, Tom." I said, holding out a band-aid.

"What's that? Is it gonna hurt me again?" Tom asked. I sunk at his words "No! I'm sorry the chip hurt but I had to do it so you could talk to me." I explained to Tom.

"Okay, as long as it wont hurt!" Tom said as he extended his arm to me. I removed the seals from the band-aid and gently placed it over the small hole the chip left.

"There! All better!" I smiled at Tom.

"Now give me a second, i'm going to go change!" I said as I darted behind the nearest tree.

I emerged from behind the tree in my sharpedo-pattern swim trunks and started sprinting towards the lake. "Come on Tom!" I yelled behind me and the squirtle followed me into the lake.

We spent a while just splashing each other in the water and playing with a few water pokemon. A buizel with a little red ball swam up to us and seemed to want to play. Tom agreed and so did I. The buizel was an excellent catcher and thrower as well, constantly leaving either me or Tom to chase after the ball we didn't catch. It got bored after a while and waved goodbye as it swam to shore and scampered off into the forest.

After that Tom and I just sat floating on the lake calmly. But I had a strange feeling, it was as if something was watching us.

I mean of course there was! There were multiple pokemon beneath the surface staring up at us, but that wasn't it.

It almost felt as if it were _hostile. _I stood up and looked all around us. The only things I could see besides me and Tom were a few pokemon running and playing throughout the forest.

I just couldn't shake this feeling though! I decided to direct my focus back to Tom, who was lazily floating on the surface of the lake.

"Hey, Tom. You know what we should do?" I said to the zoned out little turtle. "Huh?" he asked without even looking up.

"We should work on some of your attacks! I know you can dispense bubbles but that's about it." his head shot up at my words "Okay!" he said, suddenly full of energy.

We waded back to the shore and I asked him to show me what he could do, and to focus his attacks at a tree a few meters in front of him.

He began to shoot bubbles from his mouth at high speeds that exploded into tiny bursts of water on impact, shaking a few leaves free of it and leaving small indents on the tree.

"Hey cool! What else ya got?" I asked, ready to see what else my little buddy could do.

He began to sprint towards the tree and leaped into the air, withdrawing into his shell as he did so. The shell began to spin and suddenly launched itself at the tree. The impact caused the thin tree to snap in half and tumble over.

Tom landed and popped out of his shell, pride obviously spread across his face.

I too shared in his pride as he began to confidently strut around the fallen tree. I couldn't help but laugh at his silly display.

I decided we'd set up camp for the night at our training spot just off shore from the lake. I broke down the collapsed tree into smaller pieces in order to be used for firewood.

Tom watched intently as I arranged a small fire pit and set up two sleeping bags around it.

I pulled a fishing rod out from my pack, looked at him and said "Okay, let's catch some dinner, shall we?!" He nodded and promptly made a beeline for the lake.

Before I had even arrived at the shore he already had a goldeen wildly flailing between his jaws. He shot me a wink before suddenly clamping down on the creature, sending a mess of blood and guts flying accompanied by a sickening crunch.

"You certainly are quite a hunter, huh?"I laughed and cast my line out into the lake, using a chunk of goldeen as bait. "Now don't get caught on that!" I instructed Tom, pointing to my line.

He nodded and swam off in the other direction. The sun was beginning to set so I knew it was getting late and decided to fish until it was dark out.

Time passed quickly as Tom and I had compiled a small fortune of various fish pokemon in a bucket.

Getting up to my feet I shouted out for Tom and his head popped above the lake surface with a happy smile. He began swimming towards me but was suddenly dragged underwater.

"Tom?!" I shouted after him.

I dropped the bucket full of fish and my fishing rod as I hopped up onto a large rock to get a better view of what was going on, but it was dark and all I could see was water being splashed wildly. I heard a few screams and panicked.

I shuddered on the spot and felt a crushing realization hit me.

_I don't even have a weapon to aid my pokemon! What if its a gyarados trying to eat my squirtle!?_

A flurry of thoughts and scenarios flooded my brain causing me to panic even further until I heard a large splash.

It was Tom! He had leapt out of the water and I could see he was bleeding from his left leg. Another creature had leapt out after him and from what I could make out it was a blue jellyfish with two large red jewels on its head and a third smaller one between it's eyes.

"Fuck!" I shouted to myself. "That's a tentacool! That little fucker can poison you, be careful!" I shouted out at Tom.

They disappeared underwater again. I watched with baited breath, hoping for Tom to pop his head up with his goofy little smile.

There was a small bubbling.

A sudden flurry of red water.

And a fleshy blob.

_My partner! NO! This can't be!_

"No! No no no no!" I screamed at the floating object.

There was another bubbling and the small patch of red water quickly turned purple.

And then the lifeless, one armed corpse of the tentacool floated on the surface next to what I had realized was it's other arm.

Tom shot up out of the water covered in purple and red fluid and shot me a grin accompanied by a wink before loudly splashing back into the lake.

He quickly swam up to my rock and leapt at me, I caught him and looked him over.

I noted a huge gash leaking purple liquid on his left leg.

"I...I got...I got him!" He said in between pants as he collapsed in my arms.

Cradling him like a baby I leapt down from my rock and into the water, washing all the gross liquids off of him, and raced him over to the camp.

I placed him down on his sleeping bag and quickly retrieved my medicine capsule. I knew it was going to make a mess but I had to get Tom patched up before it was too late.

I backed away from the fire and pressed the release button. Like usual there was a small explosion of items all around me.

Quickly searching through the pile with shaking limbs I finally managed to find the little spray bottle full of yellow liquid.

"okay, here's the antidote!" I grabbed a potion and dashed to Tom's side. He was breathing heavily and his gash was starting to leak more purple liquid.

"Tom! Listen to me! This will sting a bit but it will heal you!" I shouted at him while spraying the yellow fluid into the gash and dabbed at the purple goo with the bottom of my swim trunks.

He didn't move aside from his heavy breathing.

_Fuck fuck fuck! He should have flinched or winced or...or something!_

The yellow fluid absorbed into the gash and the purple fluid slowly disappeared. I sprayed a bit of the potion into the gash and waited for some sort of response from Tom.

He screamed and his leg shot up to meet my chin in a fierce kick.

I let out a huge sigh, and rubbed my chin. "At least your okay." I said to him.


	4. Chapter 4

He said up and looked at me, "That really stung!"

I began to laugh hysterically. Here I was, expecting my first and only partner to be dead! But that was not the case, he was very well alive.

And whiny.

I collapsed onto my sleeping bag in front of the fire to catch my breath and relax a second, maybe even drift off for a quick nap.

Standing over me is Tom struggling to hold up the bucket of fish in his arms and my fishing pole in his mouth.

I sat up quickly to assist him before he spilt dead fish all over me.

"You can't sleep until you've cooked!" he said.

"But didn't you eat while you were catching these?" I asked.

"Well, yeah but those were just light snacks!" Tom snapped back, offended. "I don't enjoy a full meal unless it is with my friends!" Tom said in a stern tone. "At least that was the rule back home." he said, looking to the sky with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Oh, like with your group back at the enclosure?" I asked.

He nodded and closed his eyes. "It's only been a day and I miss them already."

_Why didn't I think to take his whole group?!_

He opened his eyes and stared at me, as if he had heard my thoughts. "I wouldn't have wanted you to capture them. Jet, err... the tailow doesn't trust humans because a group of hunters killed his mom and almost him, too." Tom said in a sad tone.

"Oh my arceus! That's horrible!"

Tom nodded and continued " The fennekin, Aria, had been abandoned by her trainer after only a week because she couldn't quite comprehend how to use her fire at a moments notice." Tom scoffed at his words and continued. " The scatterbug, who we have come to call Skitz, was beaten and abused from the day he was born. Once his egg had hatched his mother, a vivillon, shot a small cloud of silvery powder at him and flew off, he started crying like any scared baby would do, that only led to a fletchling attacking him. He managed to escape it and began following a road to the nearest town hoping for a nice person or pokemon to take him in. Of course no trainer wanted him and just fought him for training and left him for dead."

My heart sank at his words. _How could these poor pokemon be treated with such cruelty?!_

" Wow, I had no idea." was all I could muster. I gave Tom a hard look and said " Well I swear on my life that I won't leave you. Back in the lake...I'm going to get myself a weapon of some sort." He shot me a worried look.

"Look, it would be only to protect you or I when a situation like that happens." I motioned to the dead tentacool's carcass that had washed ashore. His worry changed to contentment and he focused on the fire. " Alright, now that I know your friend's life stories would you mind telling me about yourself?" I asked.

Tom chuckled a bit and looked at me again. " I don't have a tragic backstory. Maybe it's tragic because I don't know my parents but, no. Nothing too special. I was hatched in a lab on a table with two other pokemon, an orange lizard and a green frog, upon hatching we were greeted by a smiling old man known as 'oak' he took care of us and played with us for a while. Until one day two trainers came in and picked up the lizard and frog, it seemed as if they were rivals. I remember the spiky haired one going on about smelling and the other boy with the hat just shaking his head. But after they left oak explained that since I wasn't chosen I would be sent to an enclosure in sinnoh. I guess that's where all lost baby pokemon go."

_Spiky hair? A boy with a hat? Could he be talking about red and green? No I'll ask about that later._

" You aren't sad you never knew your parents?" I asked. He shook his head " I can't be sad about what I don't know." he said, sounding bored as he did.

"Ok." I said, not wanting to press the issue any further. "How about we cook up these fish!" I proclaimed trying to raise the turtle's spirits. He brightened up at my words. " Excellent! Let's find some roasting sticks!"

Tom motioned towards the tree he had knocked down earlier. " Perfect!" we both found suitable roasting sticks and proceeded to roast and eat the fish while telling jokes and stories around the fire until we got tired.

A huge yawn escapes me " Hey Tom, put out the fire will ya?" I asked as I rolled up into my sleeping bag. He muttered something about me being lazy and put out the fire with a flurry of bubbles then curled up into his sleeping bag next to me.

Sleeping felt amazing after a day full of excitement.

* * *

We were both jolted awake and alert by a loud screech followed by some crackling and hissing. Tom and I both sprung to our feet and scanned the area for what was going on.

The tree we had toppled over was on fire an there was a buneary trapped in some of it's branches and a bit of what looked like a spider web. The little rabbit was covered in blood and large cuts that almost looked like it had bites taken out of it.

Tom shot a concentrated beam of bubbles at the tree to put it out, but the fire was just so fierce and resilient! I emptied out the fish bucket by hastily slopping leftover fish all over our makeshift campsite and raced to the lake to fill it with water while Tom kept up with the bubbles.

The bucket of water and bubbles was finally enough to put out the fire, however the buneary was charred to a crisp by this time.

"What the hell?!" was all I could manage through a wave of pants. " I made sure to put out the fi-" Tom began before he was interrupted by a hiss from behind him.

Tom snapped around to see a larvesta standing atop the partly incinerated tree nibbling on the corpse of the buneary. " A-Ambrosia?" Tom questioned aloud.

The larvesta hissed at him and shot a small ball of fire towards him that he distinguished with his bubbles. "What are you doing here?" He asked, his tone suddenly bright. The larvesta hissed again. "Come on, Ambrosia! I know it's you!" he shouted at the insect.

The insect stopped hissing and cocked it's head at Tom. "Hold on." Tom said as he moved closer to the larvesta. The two pokemon began communicating through a system of growls and screeches. The conversation lasted for a short while and at the end the larvesta was looking quite angry.

" Master! Run!" Tom shouted at me before launching an assault of bubbles on the hissing bug.

"What? Why? Tom what's going on?" I asked, ignoring his orders. " He turned back to shoot me a look of pure anger " **Just run!**" He shouted in a tone I never heard him use before. I decided he knew what he was doing and quickly ran back to our camp.

I watched Tom battle the larvesta with fear and wonder coursing through me.

The larvesta was shooting flames at Tom that were rendered useless by his bubbles that managed to break through the flurry of flames and make contact with the bug a few times. It screeched out in pain as the bubbles popped in it's face, showering it in water. It's blue eyes suddenly narrowed as it shot out a stream of white silk towards Tom.

_Oh fuck! It's gonna trap Tom with the silk!_

"Tom! Avoid the silk!" I screamed. Tom nodded his head and jumped over the silk stream, causing the string to get caught on a nearby tree. The larvesta hissed again and made a charge towards Tom. Of course it didn't get close as Tom was relentless with his stream of bubbles. The insect while taking notable damage from the onslaught of bubbles was still charging towards Tom. Once it was about a foot away from Tom it managed to shoot a strand of silk onto Tom's mouth, disabling the further use of bubbles.

Tom started to furiously swipe and claw at the string covering his mouth, however it only served as a distraction to himself and allowed the larvesta to ensnare his legs and lower body into a cocoon of silk.

_No! No way am I gonna let some stupid bug eat my only partner!_

I sprinted over to the two pokemon as fast as I possibly could. I directed my attention to the larvesta and charged it. With all my might I let loose a fierce kick that sent the small insect flying into the forest screeching all the way.

Tom continued to wildly flail behind me, still entangled in the webbing. "Just stand still!" I shouted at the struggling turtle. He remained still and allowed me to try and tear off the silk. I could only manage to slightly free his legs from the stuff.

He stood up and held up what I assume what is his pointer finger to signify he had an idea. Suddenly he leapt into the air, disappeared into his shell, and began to spin wildly, sending strands of silk in every direction.

The shell landed on the ground and suddenly his limbs and head poked out of the holes, his smiling face suddenly in view.

"So what the hell was_ that_?!" Tom shook his head. "_That_ was Ambrosia." he said. "The larvesta that you had seen at the enclosure? She followed us here because she wanted you as a trainer, but you didn't choose her. Then I suggested she just join us as a team and that didn't go over well..." Tom explained.

"But she never even approached me at the enclosure! When I made eye contact she fled from view!" Tom shrugged "It's not a big deal. All I need to do is make sure not to get caught in that webbing if she attacks again."

"What if she tries setting us on fire while we're asleep, Tom?!" I shrieked at the turtle, feeling distressed.

"She won't. She wants you as a trainer, if anything she'd go after me, and I can beat her." Tom said. "Why are you so worried anyway?" he asked sounding annoyed.

"Because! I know that larvesta have some of the best senses beside psychic pokemon! She will be tracking us down till either she or we die!" Tom's face became thoughtful. "So we kill her or somehow convince her to join our team. There's no other options." Tom said after a while of thinking. " And it won't be easy to make her join us. We might have to nearly kill her to do so."

_I really don't want to hurt a pokemon so badly, after all she just wants to be my pokemon... and I already feel so bad for kicking her..._

"I guess you're right there." I conceded."Should we find her and go through with the plan? She can't be too far off or too well healed by now." I proposed to the squirtle. He nodded and asked where it was that I kicked Ambrosia to. I pointed off towards the north.

We walked into the forest surrounding the lake, searching for any signs of the larvesta. A few feet in there was a small burn mark on a tree and we knew she would be close. We continued north until we heard a screech come from the left of us.

Sure enough the larvesta had trapped a victim in her web and was using her fangs to suck the life out of the trapped pokemon.

Tom shot at Ambrosia with his bubbles and landed a direct hit. She focused on us and shot us both a loud hiss. I whispered to Tom "On my command, launch yourself at her from inside your shell." Tom nodded and waited at my side.

"Join us or die." I said holding out a pokeball to the larvesta. She hissed and glared at Tom and I.

Tom tensed up next to me but I put a hand on his shoulder to calm him "Not yet." I whispered down to him.

Ambrosia continued to overlook Tom and I as if to weigh her options, and finally let out a small whine as she lowered her head and slowly approached us. I clicked the pokeball to her head and it absorbed her after changing her to red energy. The pokeball gently rocked in my hand.

_Once_

_Twice_

_Thrice_

_Click!_

And so Ambrosia had joined us. I looked down at Tom. He was smiling up at me and gently clapping.

"Alright, let's head to Sandgem town!" I proclaimed to Tom. He made a small happy sound and we headed south to the exit of the lake. Once we exited the lake and began walking west to Sandgem. Tom hopped onto my shoulder and started digging in my pack. He pulled out the cartridge and a potion.

"Oh, right. I should heal up Ambrosia and set up her translator." I took the items from Tom and released Ambrosia from her pokeball in a loud, white explosion.

She slumped onto the ground and began to whimper. "Oh, it's gonna be okay. Here let me just heal you up." I said as I sprayed a bit of the solution into her wounds. She winced at the pain but quickly got over it.

Once healed up Tom explained to her what was about to happen with the translator chip. She nodded and looked up at me with willing eyes. I bent down and pricked her with the chip, she nipped me in the arm.

"_DNA sample retrieved. Please remove the chip from the body of the pokemon and replace it into the cartridge."_ The familiar robot voice chimed.

Ambrosia looked up at me. "Sorry for biting you." a pleasant female voice that belonged to her said.

"Oh, it's fine. It was probably just a reflex." I told her. "Okay, now we aren't going to hurt you anymore Ambrosia but would you mind explaining yourself a bit?"

She sighed and then nodded. " First off, I would prefer you call me Lydia. Ambrosia is the name my tribe bestowed upon me as a hatchling. I am no longer part of the tribe and do not wish to carry a name with no meaning." She explained.

"Okay, Lydia. What happened to your tribe? Why aren't you still with them?" I asked curious to know about her past.

"First of all, I wasn't accepted by any of my fellow members, due to my abnormal colouring. While the rest of my tribe has yellow horns and green eyes I have red horns and blue eyes."

_ Was her whole tribe...shiny?_

"And it doesn't help that I murdered a few of my brethren."

"You murdered your brothers?!" I asked, surprised at her casual mention of murder.

" Of course. I couldn't stand the constant ridicule so I strung them up in my web and ate them. You see, we may be the same species but our webs are different, we all have individual webs that we can control and manipulate that others can't." She explained, a devilish grin forming over her face.

_A pokemon that kills without a second thought. That doesn't bother me for some reason, actually it could be useful. _

"Okay. Well as long as you don't go killing me or Tom." I joked.

" I've learned that Tom can easily best me. That is why I so willingly joined you, that and I suppose I have imprinted on you. You now have my love, dedication and protection." she said, a hint of embarrassed-ness infecting her words as she spoke.

"Oh! That makes more sense! I knew larvestas and volcaronas were one of the few pokemon that do that, I just didn't think you would have done so on me!" I said.

"Yes, well at the enclosure when I first saw you I could sense something about you. Something that I liked." she said, even more embarrassed.

" Well, I am happy to have you on the team, Lydia." I said feeling full of pride that she would think that of me. "Now, you must know we will be training and fighting other trainers as we progress through the region. If that doesn't sound fun to you then you can say so and I'll let you go" I explained to her.

" As long as I can kill every now and then I will gladly follow you, master." She bowed as she said so.

It was funny to see a bug bow to me.

"Then let's get moving!" I shouted as we began marching toward sandgem town.


End file.
